Howdy! It’s Barsee again.

Happy Thursday, AI family, and welcome back to AI Valley.

Today’s climb through the Valley reveals:

• New algorithm lets AI models team up

• AI that ‘thinks’ like a human

• Mark Zuckerberg announces Meta Superintelligence Labs

• Plus trending AI tools, posts, and resources

Let’s dive into the Valley of AI…

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THROUGH THE VALLEY

1. New algorithm lets AI models (Gemini 2.5 Pro, o4-mini, DeepSeek) team up

Japanese startup Sakana AI has introduced a new system called AB-MCTS, which enables multiple AI models to collaborate like a team to solve challenging problems that no single model can tackle alone. The system combines ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek, with each AI focusing on what it does best—some specialize in planning, while others handle tasks like writing code. One key feature is that if one AI makes a mistake, another can step in to fix it. In tests, AB-MCTS successfully solved 30% of complex puzzles, outperforming the 23% success rate when the models worked independently. Sakana also launched TreeQuest, a free tool that lets developers create their own collaborative AI systems.

2. Amazon marks one million robots working across company

Amazon is getting close to having as many robots as human workers in its warehouses, with over 1 million robots in action. These robots perform tasks such as picking items, sorting packages, and moving products for shipping, automating about 75% of global deliveries. The latest robot, Vulcan, can even feel touch to pick up items more accurately. While automation has boosted efficiency and reduced repetitive tasks, it's also slowing down hiring. Some employees now oversee robots and earn higher wages, but there's concern about potential job losses in the long run. Amazon is also incorporating AI to make its warehouses smarter and more efficient.

3. ElevenLabs says AI speech might pass the Turing test by year-end

ElevenLabs believes its voice AI could soon be realistic enough to pass the Turing test, a key measure for human-like conversations. CEO Mati Staniszewski expects this breakthrough to happen by late 2025 or early 2026. The company is transitioning from its current system (which includes speech-to-text, language generation, and text-to-speech) to a faster, more expressive 'duplex' model. While this new approach is quicker, it’s slightly less reliable. Latency remains an issue, but Staniszewski is confident that ElevenLabs will be the first to solve it at scale. The latest version, Eleven v3, supports over 70 languages and introduces new features like inline audio controls and dialogue generation for content creators.

4. AI virtual personality YouTubers, or ‘VTubers,' are earning millions

AI is behind the rise of virtual YouTubers like Bloo, a fully digital creator with 2.5M subscribers and over 700M views. Built using tools from ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, Bloo has already earned seven figures. From voiceovers to thumbnails, AI handles almost everything on the channel. However, as AI-generated content floods the internet, critics argue that it’s becoming harder to find original, human-made videos that truly feel personal.

5. This AI ‘thinks’ like a human after training on 160 psychology studies

Helmholtz Munich has created Centaur, an AI model that mimics human decision-making. It learned from over 10 million decisions made by 60,000 people across 160 psychology experiments. Built on Meta’s LLaMA, Centaur can handle a variety of tasks, from gambling to logical reasoning, and even predicts decisions in situations it wasn’t trained for. In tests, it outperformed 14 traditional cognitive models almost every time. The team plans to grow the dataset to tackle biases and explore uses like simulating mental health research. Centaur has the potential to transform psychology by analyzing human behavior on a larger scale.

6. OpenAI reportedly shuts down for a week as Zuck poaches its top talent

After a wave of top researchers left for Meta, one OpenAI engineer described their exit as a 'huge loss' in a post that quickly went viral before being deleted. In response, OpenAI has announced a mandatory week-long break for its employees to recover from the demanding work of developing AGI. Meanwhile, Meta is quietly building a top-tier AI team, luring talent with huge pay offers. As the competition in the AI race intensifies, OpenAI’s challenges reveal the heavy human toll behind the drive to create groundbreaking technology.

PEAK OF THE DAY

Mark Zuckerberg announces Meta Superintelligence Labs 🧠 

On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg revealed the formation of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), a new division within Meta focused on developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), an AI capable of matching or even surpassing human intelligence across a broad range of tasks.

Here's everything you need to know:

• Meta is bringing all AI efforts like Llama, FAIR research, and product teams under MSL, which will report directly to Zuckerberg.

• The company’s poaching spree includes top talent from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, with reports of signing bonuses as high as $100 million.

• Meta wants to spend $65 billion this year to build the infrastructure necessary for next-gen AI models.

Who’s leading the charge?

• Alexandr Wang (ex-Scale AI CEO) – Chief AI Officer.

• Nat Friedman (ex-GitHub CEO) – Leading product development.

• Trapit Bansal – Co-creator of OpenAI’s o-series models and RL on chain of thought.

• Shuchao Bi – Former OpenAI leader, co-creator of GPT-4o voice mode.

• Huiwen Chang – Co-creator of GPT-4o’s image generation, ex-Google researcher.

• Ji Lin – Key developer of GPT-4o and other major OpenAI models.

• Joel Pobar – Former Anthropic lead for inference and performance.

• Jack Rae – Tech lead for DeepMind’s Gemini models.

• Hongyu Ren – Co-creator of GPT-4o and other OpenAI models.

• Johan Schalkwyk – Former Google Fellow, ex-technical lead for Maya.

• Pei Sun – Lead at Google DeepMind behind Gemini’s post-training and Waymo’s perception models.

• Jiahui Yu – Co-creator of GPT-4, formerly at OpenAI.

• Shengjia Zhao – Co-creator of ChatGPT and several OpenAI innovations.

What’s coming next?

• Llama 4.1/4.2: Expected soon to power Meta AI’s 1B+ users.

• Superintelligence model: Targeted for release by 2025.

• AR Integration: Plans to deeply integrate AI into AR glasses and wearables.

Why it matters:

Meta is going all-in on AI with a huge investment in talent and infrastructure. By combining its massive user base of over 3 billion people and its existing hardware ecosystem (Ray-Ban glasses and Quest), Meta is aiming to take a significant leap ahead in the race for AGI. Zuckerberg is betting big on Meta becoming the first to create a superintelligent system that could change the whole game. But with such a massive investment and a tight deadline of 2025, it’s clear that this is a high-stakes gamble. If Meta succeeds, it could leap ahead of competitors like OpenAI and Google, but the risks are equally high.

TRENDING TOOLS

• Shortcut: The first superhuman Excel agent.

• Doppl: Try on any look, anywhere (by Google).

• Scout: The most curious coding and research agent.

• Mindly: Capture your thoughts in seconds with automatic organization.

• Dyad: Free, local, open-source alternative to Lovable / v0 / Bolt.

THINK PIECES / BRAIN BOOST

• The new skill in AI is not prompting, it's context engineering

• LLMs are optimizing the adult industry.

• Anthropic’s Claude AI became a terrible business owner in an experiment that got ‘weird’

• Coding Agents 101: The art of actually getting things done.

THE VALLEY GEMS

What’s trending on social today:

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

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